Middlemarch: Book 2, Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis

The letter from Bulstrode arrives the next day. Fred takes it to Mr. Featherstone, who reads it aloud while making angry comments. When he is done, he asks if Fred expects him to believe something just because Bulstrode wrote an elegantly-worded letter about it. He refuses to confirm what he actually believes, and soon calls for Mary. When she enters he snaps at her; it looks like she has been crying. Featherstone asks if Fred is expecting to inherit some of his fortune, and Fred replies he isn’t.

Fred is an optimistic person, always confident that everything will ultimately work out. He doesn’t see why his luck would run out now. Featherstone hands Fred five bank notes. Fred thanks him and goes to put them away, but Featherstone tells him to count them first. Fred is disappointed to find that the notes amount to less than he’d hoped, but he nonetheless assures his uncle that he is grateful. Featherstone muses that he is a better uncle than Bulstrode, and Fred asks if he should destroy Bulstrode’s letter. Featherstone tells him to do it.

On his way out, Fred speaks with Mary. She mentions that John Waule was there yesterday, and Fred teases that John is probably in love with her. This upsets Mary, who confesses that it is frustrating to always be addressed in a patronizing way, as if she has no intelligence. Fred says it’s a shame she has to live at Mr. Featherstone’s and be bullied by him, but Mary replies that it’s not so bad. They flirt with one another, but Fred says he thinks it’s impossible for a woman to love someone she’s always known. Mary goes through a list of famous heroines to see if he’s right and finds mixed results.

They continue flirting, and eventually Fred exclaims hat he will never be “good for anything” unless Mary loves him and marries him when they are ready. Mary warns him against laziness and tells him he should take his exam. Fred begs her for encouragement, but she refuses. She says her father would be horrified by the idea of her leading on a man who was in debt and without a job. As she leaves, she says that Fred has always been good to her. Fred is slightly cheered by this.

At home, Fred gives the banknotes from Featherstone to Mrs. Vincy, telling her to keep them safe so he can use them to pay his debt. Mrs. Vincy is happy; she has a special weakness for Fred, her oldest son. Meanwhile, Fred’s resolution to pay his debt may have something to do with the fact that he borrowed the money from Mary’s father, Caleb Garth.